When Teresa turned 10 years old, she knew the one wish she wanted to make. And it wasn’t for a party at the trampoline park, or new barbies, or a bike. It was something bigger. She said, all I want for my birthday is a family. She didn’t wish for it silently over a cake, blowing out her candles in front of a dozen other young children, in a breathless and sweaty smiling celebration. Teresa said it out loud, sitting quietly with her visitor in a community hospital–a lawyer appointed by the state to advocate for children who are abused and neglected and can’t live at home.

It was over a year since Teresa had lived with any member of her biological family, and many years since she had been removed from her parents because of their inability to take care of her. But instead of finding stabili

See Full Page